Mark Gatiss Unlocks the Secret of His ‘Delightful’ New PBS British Murder Mystery

If there is one thing to know about Mark Gatiss, it’s that he likes a spicy mystery. And certainly the prolific creator’s Bookish falls into that category. The six-part murder drama set in post-World War II London sees the Emmy and Peabody winner step into the pseudo gumshoes of Gabriel Book (yes, his last name is book!), an antiquarian bookshop owner who helps police solve crimes.  

Gatiss, known for other work such as Sherlock, Doctor Who, and The League of Gentlemen, brings his signature wit and cleverness to this project as well. The 59-year-old not only stars but co-wrote Bookish along with Matthew Sweet. Helping bring the 1940s set vision to life is director Carolina Giammetta.

Joining Gabriel on these whodunit investigations is his wife Trottie (Polly Walker; Bridgerton, Line of Duty). As revealed over the course of the season, the marriage between the childhood best friends proves anything but conventional. Another important piece of the puzzle and backstory is Jack Blunt (Connor Finch), taken in as Gabriel’s assistant after being released from prison. Audiences will find their connection goes deeper than that. 

Ahead of the U.S. premiere on PBS on January 11, Gatiss gives us intel on what’s to come. 

You shared on Instagram that Season 2 of Bookish has already wrapped, so fans can know there is another installment around the corner. But how is it for you to see the show resonate already? 

Mark Gatiss: It’s wonderful. To quote the great William Goldman, the screenwriter whose famous maxim was, “Nobody knows anything.” That’s the truth. You can put your life and soul into a show nobody watches. Or a film that is 10 years of your life and disappears without a trace. I’m delighted it has been as well received as it has. It really seems to have found an audience, which is delightful. 

Fans who know Sherlock have a good chance of enjoying Bookish. What do you love about Gabriel? I love the fact he owns a bookshop and that also plays into solving crimes. 

I’ve always wanted to play a detective and create a detective. Obviously what every detective needs is a thing. It just popped into my head a long time ago. Literally, the title, I thought, well, what if it’s like nominative determinism? He is called Book. He runs a bookshop, and basically the answer is somehow in all books. Not just literature, not just textbooks, but learning. Without being preachy about it, I would like to think it sends an optimistic message about what books could do for us. And also the idea of the bookshop itself being a bit of an oasis from a troubled world. I remember when I was a kid going to a particular bookshop, and it was sort of like stepping back in time. I remember closing the door off the busy high street, the clang of the bell and suddenly inside it was sort of like a cloister. It was calm and gentle and welcoming. I’ve always liked that idea. 

I thought, what if there is a way of solving crimes through books? And about him being a gay man in a very dangerous world, married to his straight best friend from childhood. Also, that period really I’ve always been interested in. I think it has strangely been underexamined. The post-war world. We sort of moved very quickly to the 1950s, yet that five years in Britain particularly is the most radical government we’ve ever had. An extraordinary time where the world is totally smashed to bits, but also people had great optimism about the future. That didn’t quite work out, but it was sort of like this new Jerusalem. To me, it feels like a fertile ground for all sorts of things, especially murder. 

We see the layers pulled back as we find out his backstory and what happened between him and Trottie and how Jack plays into that. We think about how the LGBT+ community and all the progress made with more work to be done. However, during this time period, what was it like to tackle just how dangerous it was to live your true self? How important was it for you to show that? 

It’s very important to me, but also it’s really good to do it through drama rather than lecturing. It’s really good for people who may not know. I remember seeing a documentary many years ago here in Britain, the anniversary of the partial decriminalization in 1967. There were two guys on there that looked a bit shifty. Then the interviewer said, “What is it?” One of them said he didn’t realize it had ever been illegal. You go, “Oh my God!” It blows your mind. Here it’s like the price of victory is ignorance in a way. So, I wanted to show how difficult and strange it was. But also shine a light on the present day because a lot of people still live closeted lives. As we know, with the stroke of a pen all that legislation could be undone. We tend to assume progress goes in one direction, and it’s not the case. It can just be lost like that. It’s a murder mystery series, entertainment, but I think you can also do stuff in there which is deeper than that without lecturing. It’s more to inform, educate, and entertain. 

There is the overarching story learning about the characters, but there are also these three whodunits broken down in three parts. What was the thought process of putting it into that format? 

I wrote the first one in lockdown, and I always conceived it as a two-parter. When it was commissioned, nobody said, “Could you do six hour-long episodes?” It was sort of understood that’s what we do. So, that’s the reason. It’s chiefly because it gives you time to breathe and have a lot of suspects and get to know them. In a shorter format, I think it’s great and works for a lot of shows. And it could even work with Bookish in the future if we’re lucky. But they are small mysteries.  When it’s  more like a man is found dead in a locked room, and you have 45 minutes to work out who did it. I don’t think you have time to get to know everybody and work through the motives, etc. It’s that really. It’s about giving it room to breathe. 

Gabriel and Trottie have a playful dynamic. How was it building that onscreen with Polly? You riff off each other so well. 

We were very lucky. I’ve never worked with Polly. I was a big fan, but never worked with her. We offered it to her, and luckily, we got along like a house on fire straightaway. It is really like Book and Trottie with our relationship. That has been a blessing. She is a delightful woman to work with and play with. I couldn’t have a better wife. 

What are you excited for new fans to see in terms of the cases being tackled? I love the Hollywood one. 

The British film industry in those days was actually the best time for British films with wonderful films of the 1940s. It’s a relatively small world compared to Hollywood. What I try to do is the first one is very much on [fictional street] Archangel Lane to sort of establish the precinct and the regulars in that way. Jack is our new eyes and ears, our newcomer. Then a film is on location in the bookshop in episodes three and four. Then it’s around the film studio, but it’s very much around the Lane. Then as the sort of season finale, if we’re allowed to have those after six episodes, where  we got down to the road to a big hotel. It slightly broadens out. Then in Season 2, it will broaden out. It’s about reestablishing the precinct, but also letting it grow a little bit. 

It is going to be a decade since you won the Emmy Award for Sherlock: The Abominable Bride. How do you reflect on that now along with the show ending as you went on to have your next chapter that we see going today? 

I can’t believe it has been 10 years. My great annoyance is it was the only ceremony I didn’t go to. I think we went to about three or four, and that was the one I could have gone on the stage for, but I wasn’t there. It was a huge thing. It’s up here now. I still have the box because I remember the thrill of it arriving. It was amazing. I can’t believe it has been 10 years. Sherlock is a huge part of my life and career. I’m forever grateful for it. I think it’s also strange that it has been nearly 10 years since we stopped. But it still resonates in extraordinary ways and keeps coming back. 

Is there a text string? Do you still stay in touch? 

Oh yeah. Martin [Freeman] messaged me out of the blue the other day. He was in a hotel in Croatia or something. He said, “Hey, I’m just watching Sherlock. Very proud.” It was very touching. It is very lovely to hear that. I’ve already had this with the League of Gentleman, but the really scary thing about Sherlock is when people tell me, “I loved your show when I was a kid [laughs].” I can’t bear it. 

What can you tease about Season 2 after they watch these six episodes? 

The first one is about, and fans of Doctor Who will not be surprised I’m returning to an old favorite, but the first one is about seances and mediums, which I’ve always been obsessed with. The second one is about a murder in a trailer shop. The third one is set in a German castle at Christmas. We will find out more about Jack’s backstory and my late lover Felix, played by Jonas Nay. 

Lastly, you’ve been in the industry for so long. I just love how this genre keeps evolving and growing. What do you think the state of it is now?

It’s another golden age, isn’t it? I mean, it was never not popular because people always love detectives, but it sort of ebbs and flows. But I think really since Knives Out sort of fired the starting pistol. I can’t tell you, and I hope you can hear this, I can’t tell you how thrilled I was. I watched a video Rian Johnson did where he talked about Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Evil Under the Sun, the Albert Finney’s and the Ustinov Poirot’s and what they mean to him, and also The Last of Sheila, which I adore. And sometimes it’s like someone’s just taken your hand through the TV screen. It’s like, yes, you get it.

 So it’s delightful, and it’s great. I suppose it’s a bit like the 30s and 40s in novel form. There’s an amazing sort of abundance of different detectives and different styles and people harking back to the golden age, but also pushing it forward very much into the modern realm of forensics and things. And I’d like to think I’m part of that. And I suppose trying to do a bit of both. It’s a golden age setting, but I’m trying to talk about stuff which doesn’t get talked about otherwise. And a gay detective who’s an antiquarian bookseller is kind of my kind of hero, I suppose.

Bookish premiere, January 11, 10/9c, PBS